EFFECT

The magician raises his arms up by his sides and slowly appears to rise a few inches off the ground for a little while before returning to earth quickly.

BALDUCCI METHOD

The Balducci method involves positioning your audience about 8 to 10 feet away at a 45 degrees angle. You need to keep your audience small so they are within this field of sight. This is a very restrictive angle trick and it is essential that the angles are practiced, preferably with a friend or in front of a mirror. The Balducci levitation involves pretending to float off the ground by going on to your tip toes on just one foot (the one furthest from their view) while the nearest foot is raised a little off the ground. This looks fantastic as the foot on your tip toe is hidden by your trousers, the nearest foot and the angle they are watching at. You only rise a few inches off the ground but the impression is fantastic. This trick is all in the presentation with you appearing to rise slowly, wait for a second or two and then return to the ground quickly so as the audience do not have time to figure the trick out.

DAVID BLAINE VERSION

Ever since David Blaine performed the levitation trick on his T.V special, many people have been amazed how he managed to levitate himself. David Blaine performs two types of levitation tricks in his T.V special. The first trick he performs is called The Balducci Levitation trick. This trick is easy to perform but it does require some practice. The other trick David performs is when you see both of his feet lift off the ground about a foot high off the ground. This trick was achieved by using very thin wires which are not visible on TV The people watching him do the levitation trick were actually watching him do the The Balducci Levitation trick. The video was edited together so it looked like the people were watching David lift a foot off ground! David Blaine used various camera shots in his TV special with the audience reaction being filmed close up and linked to other clips of him in mid air with some of the angles showing the Balducci levitation. The special did not show the number of times he mucked up the illusion, which is very easy to do. The view that shows him rise a good few inches in the air and does not show the audience and would have been done with a bar attached to a pivot like a seesaw. The end of the pivot would have had a hook which clipped onto a harness attached to his belt and a member of the crew would have pushed down on the other side of the bar lifting David up in the air. The camera angle would have hidden the props. This film would have been mixed in with the audience clips in the studios later.

HOW TO DO THE LEVIATION

Step 1: Face away from the people who you are going to perform the trick to. Make sure there no one standing in front of you or at the sides. The audience has to be behind you.
Step 2: Take one and a half steps out in front of you and turn yourself clockwise to a two 'o' clock position.
Step 3: Make sure your feet are together, bend your knees slightly.
Step 4: Slowly lift your left foot up so you a balancing on the ball of your foot, at the same time slowly lift your right foot up right off the ground. Make sure that you lift up your right foot the same time as your left foot. If done correctly it will look like (from the audience view) your levitating of the ground.

TIPS

This trick requires practice, to help you perform this trick correctly try and practice in front of the mirror. You have to make sure that the distance between you and the audience is correct otherwise they will see the tip of your left foot. Also make sure that the angle is correct as well otherwise someone might see your left foot. Having the correct footwear is very important with this trick. You can't wear any shoes that have a heel. Trainers are OK to wear but they must be flat. The best footwear is to have either dark flat shoes or trainers with dark trousers (pants). When you start to lift of the ground slowly raise both arms up also lower your arms when you lower yourself.

EFFECT

The magician floats 6 inches off the ground with spectators in front and behind him.

PREPARATION

What you need to do, is find a pair of hard rubber shoes. I use a new pair of casual adidas superstars, don't use leather shoes, or the prepared shoe will bend during the levitation. To prepare the shoe, you need to cut a hole on the bottom of your 'lifting foot'. Make sure there's about 5mm in the front and back of the shoe. I also recommend wearing black socks during the presentation.

METHOD

Go out and find up to four spectators. Place two of them behind you for the proper angles of the Balducci levitation. Say your lifting foot (the foot inside the prepared shoe) is your right. Have the other two specs stand in front of you, but have them stand more to your left, and make sure they can still see both your feet. It's then a simple matter, to slip your toes out of the uncut segment in the front of your shoe to do the normal Balducci levitation, come back down to the ground, slip your toes back into the segment, and walk away.